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Entrance and the Nakoma
Basin. Frank Lloyd Wright’s work never ceases to amaze
and inspire me, even 53 years past his death. In October
2012, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit the Nakoma
Golf Resort, located northwest of Reno, on the northern end
of the Sierra-Nevada Mountain Range in California. One year
earlier, my nephew Caleb Olsen, Golf Pro and General Manager
at Nakoma, called, “You will never guess where I’m working.”
As we turned onto Bear Run Drive I had to
smile. Very clever of the Taliesin Architects. Fallingwater,
one of Wright’s most famous homes, is built over a stream
called Bear Run. Another street is named Fallingwater. My
first surprise was to glimpse what I had only visualized
from Wright’s illustrations created nearly 90 years earlier.
Just to the right of the drive were massive statues, placed
in a pond, the closest I have seen to how Wright had
originally envisioned them. My wife told me to settle down.
Wright’s original drawings for the Nakoma
and Nakomis statues, known as the “Nakoma Memorial Gateway,”
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placed them in two separate
pools. The upper pool, “Nakomis Plateau,” included the
18-foot rectangular chieftain Nakomis. The lower pool,
“Nakoma Basin,” included the 16 -foot circular Nakoma. In
deference to the full sized SC Johnson Headquarters’ 1976
statues, these were created at ninety percent of the
original height: 16 and 11 1/2 feet respectively.
Like the design for the Nakoma clubhouse,
there are other examples of Wright’s appreciation of the
American Indian heritage. As early as 1895, he commissioned
Orlando Giannini to paint American Indian murals in his Oak
Park home. John Lloyd Wright, his son, wrote, “‘Skinny’
Giannini from Italy painted American Indians in brilliant
colors on the walls of Papa’s bedroom... Papa liked
Indians!” (My Father
Who is on Earth, page 27).
Although Wright originally designed the
Nakoma and Nakomis to be set in separate pools, neither the
Garners nor the Taliesin Architects can be faulted for
placing them in the same pool. They truly form a “gateway”
to the Nakoma clubhouse. |
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1: The entrance to
the Nakoma Golf Resort is located at the corner
of A-15 and Bear Run Drive, just past
Fallingwater and the
1997 Taliesin Life House. |
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2: To the left
stoops the circular Nakoma which Wright
described with "brimming bowl and children,
symbolic of domestic virtue". She reaches a height of nearly thirteen
feet tall. To the right stands the rectangular
Chieftain Nakomis which Wright described as
"teaching his young son to take the bow to the
Sun God". He reaches a height of nearly fourteen
and a half feet tall. |
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3: Wright
described the Nakoma with "brimming bowl and
children, symbolic of domestic virtue". She
reaches a height of nearly thirteen feet tall. Circular in design, a baby is on her
back, a young female child stands by her side
holding a smaller bowl. |
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4: Detail of Nakoma.
Circular in design, a baby is on her back, a
young female child stands by her side holding a
smaller bowl. |
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5: Detail of the
young female child standing by Nakoma's side. |
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6: Wright described
the Chieftain Nakomis as "teaching his young son
to take the bow to the Sun God". He reaches
a height of nearly fourteen and a half feet
tall. Rectangular in design, his
son stands in front of him. |
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7: Detail of the
Chieftain Nakomis and his
son who stands in front of him. Damage is
visible to the Chief's face and headband and the
son's outstretched arm. |
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